The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-07-22
TALMAGES SERMON.
the Brooklyn Presoher 1t "Ths
Hamptons."

The Brooklyn Prsaoher ct "Ths
HamptonA"
4 Discourse On Pasrs Departure frsn
Earth 60 the 0lsFiss Bsyoad-
The ADessis's E,nai triumph
Over Death.
Rsv. I. Dewitt Talmage preached At
''The Hsmptons' on . recent Sabbath,
taking for his topic ''Frem Dungeon to
Palace" HIS text was:
The time Of my departure 10 st hand
Timothy, iv.,&
Tho WY out Of this world ID % blocked
up with CONN and hesrse, and under
takers spade and screw-driver, that the
Christian can hardly think - he ought Of
the most cheerful passage in oil his his
tory. We hang black instead Of white
over the place whore the good man gets
his last victory. We stlnd weeping over
heap Of chains which the freed soul has
shaken OF, and we say:
'Poor mani What pity It wss ho had
to come to thisi"
Come to what BY the time the people
have Assem- bled at the obsequies that
man hos been three days 30 happy that
all the joys Of earth accumulated would
be wrctchedness beside 1t, and he might
better weep over you because you have
to stay than you weep over him be-
cause he had to 60. It 10 Q fortunate
thing that good man does not have to
walt to see his own obsequfes; they would
be 50 discordant with his own experience.
II the Israelites should 70 back to Egypt
"a 10 ~lr -lri 1vSa hou "a
left, they would not be any more silly
than that Christian who should forsake
Heaven and come down and mourn BE-
cause he had to leave this world. Our
idea Of Q Christians death are morbid
and siclly. We look upon it a. . dark
hole in which Q man tumbles when his
breath gives out. The whole subject Is
odorous with varnish and sinfectants
instead Of being sweet with mignonette.
p. ul, in nv text, takes that great clod Of
q word 'desth" and throws 1t away, and
speaks Of his Observation-Disclosures,
bright, suggestive word, descriptive Of
eve y Christians release.
Now, departure implies q starting place
and place OF destination. When Pau
loft this world, what was the startin |,
pointi 1t was q scence of great physical
distress. 1t was the Tullianum. the lower
dungeon Of the Mamertine prison. The
top dungeon was bad enough, it having
no means Of ingress or eRress but through
an opening in the top. Through that the
prisoner was lowered, and through that
came all the food and air and light re-
ceivcd. 1t was terrible place, that up
per dungeon; but the Tallianum was the
lower dungeon, and that was still more
wretched, the only light and the only air
coming through the roof, and that roof
the floor of the upper dungeon.
That was Paurs last earthly residence.
1t was dungeon just six and half feet
high. 1t was a doleful place, It had the
chill Of long centuries Of dampness. It
was filthy with the long incareerations
Of miserable wretches. 1t was there that
Paul spent his last days on
earth, and it is there that see him to-
day, in the fearful dungeon, shivering,
blue with cold, waiting for that old over
coat which he had sent for up to Troas,
and which they had not sent down, not
withstanding he had written for it.
II some skillful surgeon should 60 into
that dungeon whore Paul is incarcerated,
we might find out what are the prospects
of Paurs living through tho rough i'm.
prisonment In the first place, he is an old
man, only two years short OF seventy. At
that very time when no most needs the
warmth, and the sunlight, and the fresh
air, he 10 shut out from the sun. What
are those scars on his anklesi WHY,
those were gotten when he was fast, his
feet In the stocks. Every time he turned
the nssh on his ankles started. What
are those scars on his backi You know
he was whipped five times, each time get
ting thirty-nine strokes-one hun
dred and ninety five bruises on the
back count themD mado by the
Jews with rods Of elmwood, each
one Of the one hundred and ninety five
strokes bringing the blood. Look at Paups
face and look at his arms! Where did he
get those bruisesi think it was when
he WIS struggling ashore amidst the
shisN,ed timbers Of the shipwreck. I see
cash in Paurs side. Where did no get
thatt think he got that in the tussle
with the highwaymen, for he had been in
peril Of robbers, and he had money Of his
own. He was o mechanic as we'll as an
apostle, and / think the tents he made
were as good Is his sermons.
There Is n wsnness about Paul's looks.
What makes thati think part Of that
camo from the fact that he was for
iterranean .es. sufPsrina terriblv befora
he ,v.. re.cned. for he sav. no.it;veIv.
81 was a night and a day in the deenn
Nh worn.out emacia,eS old mani .nr..
IL Won mus, he mei.ncholv. no eon.titn.
tion could endure this and be cheerful
But I press nv way through tho prison
until come up close TO whore he 10; and
by tho faint light that streams through
tho opening see on his face . supernat-
ural Joy, and ! bow before him and say {:
"Aged man, how oan you keep cheerful
amid all this RloomF'
His voice startles the darkness Of the
place a. he cries out